Suzy Henderson

Writers and readers – a symbiotic relationship. Ideas spark writers to create stories and build worlds and characters for readers’ consumption. Readers add imagination and thought along with their backgrounds and attitudes to interpret those stories, deriving meaning and enjoyment in the process. A story is incomplete without both writer and reader. What then do readers want? What constitutes a compelling story? How do men and women differ in their preferences? Where do readers find recommendations? What are their attitudes to pricing or their favourite reading blogs? These and other questions have been the subject of two previous reader surveys. ANNOUNCING A 2015 READER SURVEY designed to solicit further input on reading habits, historical fiction preferences, favourite authors and, for the first time, favourite historical fiction. THE SURVEY WILL BE OPEN UNTIL MAY 14. If you are a reader or a writer, please take the survey and share the link [ https://www.survey...

December 1944. England was experiencing the worst winter in fifty-four years. Across the Channel, deep in the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge raged on. The American GI's now had the added problem of dealing with German soldiers posing as 'fake' GI's. Three Germans had already been captured and executed by a firing squad while fifteen more awaited the same fate. The Eighth Air Force flew a mission on the 31st December and again on the 1st January, New Years Day, dropping leaflets in France, Germany and Belgium. Meanwhile, the American bombers of the Ninth Air Force were grounded by bad weather. American GI's in the Ardennes Image courtesy of Wikimedia commons New Years Eve 1944 saw more than 900 B-17's launched against targets across Germany. 3rd Bomb Division crews returned to the oil production centres of Hamburg on a bombing mission but they suffered heavy losses. Having experienced particularly heavy flak, the bombers dropped their bombs and t...

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of one of the most famous Big Band Leaders, Major Alton Glenn Miller, continues to confound people still today. Major Miller disappeared whilst on a flight from England to Paris in December 1944. There have been numerous conspiracy theories surrounding his disappearance, some of which seem quite bizarre. It has been said that he was killed whilst trying to overthrow Hitler and another theory mentions a Paris brothel! However, there has been much research into his disappearance and in 2017, Colorado University Historian, Dennis Spragg is due to release a book that may finally shine the light on this mystery. Almost seventy two years ago, the world was still reeling from the tragic and mysterious loss of Major Alton Glenn Miller. Born in March 1904 in Clarinda, Iowa, Glenn had a typical childhood, went to college, played football and became hooked on music. He once milked cows to raise enough money to buy a trombone. His father inspired and en...

Today I want to introduce my readers to Elinor Florence, author of a new Canadian wartime novel called Bird’s Eye View . Bird’s Eye View tells the story of a young woman from the prairies whose fictional home town of Touchwood, Saskatchewan becomes an air training base. Fired with patriotism, she joins the air force herself – one of 50,000 Canadian women who enlisted to support the fighting men. Rose Jolliffe travels overseas and becomes an interpreter of aerial photographs, spying on the enemy from the sky, searching out bomb targets on the continent. But she keeps in touch with the home front through frequent letters, so readers get a bird’s eye view of the events taking place back in Canada, as well as the action in Europe. Since Elinor herself grew up on a former wartime airfield, I asked her how that inspired her novel. ***** By Elinor Florence Canada didn’t see combat at home during World War Two, but the face of the country was changed forever b...

Riding in the Shadow of Death, is the amazing true life story of Lancaster Bomber Pilot Bill North, who served as a pilot with RAF Bomber Command’s 61 Squadron during World War Two. His story is told by Chris Keltie, who as a 7 year old boy met Bill and his family after moving into the house next door in London, March 1970. Over the years, Chris heard many accounts of Bill's WW2 experiences and grew to realise that his unassuming next-door neighbour and good friend was actually, an extraordinary man.   The odds in Bomber Command of crew survival were extreme. The chance of completing a tour of 30 Operations was one in three; the highest losses in the British Armed Services in WW2, dying as fast as Officers in the trenches during WW1. Only the German U-Boat crews would suffer similar losses.   Bill and his crew had many near death experiences and witnessed many of their comrades dying. After completing many successful bombing missions on military targets, they were shot down...